Brian Tough Q.G.M

Nick McCarthy

Mark "NOG" Gorman

Graeme Kerr Q.C.B

Brian Tough

A former bodyguard to Director Special Forces, Sheikh Yamani, Princess Caroline of Monaco, King Hussain of Jordan and other high profile individuals. A former Special Forces Instructor in Close Quarter Battle (C.Q.B), Surveillance, Close Protection Training and Counter Terrorism. 35 years of experience working at the very highest levels in the security industry.

Nick McCarthy

A former Parachute Regiment Soldier with a variety of operational deployments behind him. On leaving the army Nick became a Security Consultant on a major Diamond Mining Project in Sierra Leone, West Africa and then a Close Protection Officer within the U.K. and the European Union.

Mark "NOG" Gorman

Mark served for 22 years in the Army with Airborne Forces and after specialising in primary care and trauma medicine, spent the last six years of his Army career as a qualified Operating Department Practitioner. Whilst in this role, Mark has gained experience in places such as Kosovo, Sierra Leone and Iraq as well as military and NHS hospitals in the UK. Since leaving Armed Forces, Mark has taught on many and various First Aid courses both nationwide and abroad.

Graeme Kerr Q.C.B

A former member of United Kingdom Special Forces (UKSF) Group, Graeme has become a Personal Protection Officer for an International Risk Management Company working with multi service teams involved in highly sensitive security operations. A broad range of surveillance and security consultancy experience gained while with UKSF, working covertly with other Government Security Services within the U.K. on counter terrorist operations.

Course information

Course details

Many people work across the various disciplines within the security industry and Private Investigation services is most definitely a growth area. With the economy still in bad shape many companies are looking at more and more ways to cut out their losses as well as increasing their profit, anything to make the bottom line better during these challenging times. To this end more and more companies are calling on the services of Private Investigators to help them with their problems. We have found that clients approach us from all walks of like, big and small companies alike, even those with their own internal investigations department as these are often staffed by untrained people who are just fulfilling a role.

What does the course cover?

The Private Investigator course is based around the Surveillance course, as we believe that this gives potential Private Investigators the best base from which to grow their own agency. Further to the surveillance course, students will also cover:

Process serving

Law & legislation

Open source intelligence gathering (OSINT)

Locus reporting

Setting up an agency

In order for some of these examples of the work that you carry out to be successful you will have to conduct some sort of preliminary investigations, a research phase so that your client is advised fully prior to authorising some potentially expensive surveillance without the need or much chance of success. Given the massive growth of the internet never before has Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) been so important to investigations. People’s lifestyles are, now played out to the world in places such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and more so naturally we show all our students ways in which information from these sites can be legally obtained, information that could make or break an investigation. You must remember that just because you pay for information it does not mean that this information is illegal, far from it – look at areas such as the electoral role, the information attracts a fee but it is totally legal. Having knowledge in this area is vital if you wish to become a proficient investigator. We find that most people find this phase of the course extremely interesting and invaluable for their future.

Post Course Support

Many training providers have been criticised over the years for not offering post course support and quite rightly so. At Argus Europe, we do not do this and have set up a group for Argus students only. Upon successful completion of your course, you will be given access to the Argus Group where you can easily network with other Argus students and be made aware of potentially vital information regarding employment opportunities and legislative changes.

Is there anything else?

We pride ourselves in giving our students the very best chance of gaining employment within the Security Industry and to that end all of our students are advised about Curriculum Vitae’s, Personal Portfolios, the etiquette required on The Circuit and more….just ask our students, they will tell you just how valuable this element of the course is.

Course details

Many people work across the various disciplines within the security industry and Private Investigation services is most definitely a growth area. With the economy still in bad shape many companies are looking at more and more ways to cut out their losses as well as increasing their profit, anything to make the bottom line better during these challenging times. To this end more and more companies are calling on the services of Private Investigators to help them with their problems. We have found that clients approach us from all walks of like, big and small companies alike, even those with their own internal investigations department as these are often staffed by untrained people who are just fulfilling a role.

What activities could a Private Investigator expect to be involved with?

The role is so varied that this is difficult to answer but you could most certainly be involved with:

Statement taking

Accident reports

Locus reports

Surveillance (physical)

Surveillance (technical)

Process serving

Preliminary investigations/research (OSINT)

What does the course cover?

The Private Investigator course is based around the Surveillance course, as we believe that this gives potential Private Investigators the best base from which to grow their own agency. Further to the surveillance course, students will also cover:

Process serving

Law & legislation

Open source intelligence gathering (OSINT)

Locus reporting

Setting up an agency

In order for some of these examples of the work that you carry out to be successful you will have to conduct some sort of preliminary investigations, a research phase so that your client is advised fully prior to authorising some potentially expensive surveillance without the need or much chance of success. Given the massive growth of the internet never before has Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) been so important to investigations. People’s lifestyles are, now played out to the world in places such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and more so naturally we show all our students ways in which information from these sites can be legally obtained, information that could make or break an investigation. You must remember that just because you pay for information it does not mean that this information is illegal, far from it – look at areas such as the electoral role, the information attracts a fee but it is totally legal. Having knowledge in this area is vital if you wish to become a proficient investigator. We find that most people find this phase of the course extremely interesting and invaluable for their future.

Post Course Support

Many training providers have been criticised over the years for not offering post course support and quite rightly so. At Argus Europe, we do not do this and have set up a group for Argus students only. Upon successful completion of your course, you will be given access to the Argus Group where you can easily network with other Argus students and be made aware of potentially vital information regarding employment opportunities and legislative changes.

Is there anything else?

We pride ourselves in giving our students the very best chance of gaining employment within the Security Industry and to that end all of our students are advised about Curriculum Vitae’s, Personal Portfolios, the etiquette required on The Circuit and more….just ask our students, they will tell you just how valuable this element of the course is.

Testimonials

March 2018 Close Protection/Surveillance/Private Investigation/First Aid

The course instructors have a vast amount of knowledge and experience in every aspect of close protection and surveillance. Personal experiences combined with the equipment made available to us really brings the course to life. The tuition and understanding gained from this course are skills I will retain for life.

– Wesley Gardener

snipes2.0 [at] hotmail.com

Dec 2017, Surveillance, Private Investigation, Close Protection
The course was brilliant, learnt lots and already I can see that the post course support is very good!

– Jonathan Scholick

jonny.scholick [at] gmail.com

March 2018 Close Protection/Surveillance/Private Investigation/First Aid

One of the best courses that I have done throughout my military career. All instructors are full of knowledge and teach from their own experience.

March 2018 Close Protection/Surveillance/Private Investigation/First Aid

Brillian course, all instructors were great and had lots of experience. I found every stage beneficial and well ran. I will recommend this course to others.

– Glen Marshall

glenmarshall [at] rocketmail.com

Dec 2017, Surveillance, Private Investigation, Close Protection
I really enjoyed the course, especially the surveillance phase. I felt like the knowledge of the instructors made it easier to understand all aspects of the course.

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Latest Testimonials

March 2018 Close Protection/Surveillance/Private Investigation/First Aid

The course instructors have a vast amount of knowledge and experience in every aspect of close protection and surveillance. Personal experiences combined with the equipment made available to us really brings the course to life. The tuition and understanding gained from this course are skills I will retain for life.

– Wesley Gardener

snipes2.0 [at] hotmail.com

Fully enjoyable, testing course ran by professionals. I would recommend them to anyone seeking a Close Protection course for quality and value for money.

– Rob Faulkner

robertmfaulkner[at]live.co.uk

March 2018 Close Protection/Surveillance/Private Investigation/First Aid

One of the best courses that I have done throughout my military career. All instructors are full of knowledge and teach from their own experience.

– Jody Sammways

jodysammways [at] hotmail.co.uk

March 2018 Close Protection/Surveillance/Private Investigation/First Aid

Excellent course, great fun, instructors were very informative!

– Sam James

sam00 [at] outlook.com

March 2018, Surveillance & Private Investigation

Great course, knowledgeable team.

– Chris Maguire

chriserd [at] outlook.com

Excellent course. I couldn’t be happier with what I’ve learned and how much the instructors know about the subjects.

– Elon Nilsson

e-son [at] live.se

The course came highly recommended and having completed the courses I can vouch for this. This is, without a doubt, the course to do if you aspire to progress in the close protection and surveillance industry.

– Dale McKenzie

dm9915[at]yahoo.co.uk

Excellent course, highly recommend.

– Stephen Lewis

I thought the knowledge and approachability of the instructors was excellent as were the exercise scenarios.

– William Finlay

williamfin89 [at] gmail [dot] com

Very good course from start to finish. I learned a lot from the instructors.

– Michelle de Garis

March Close Protection/Surveillance/Private Investigation/First Aid

I enjoyed every day of the course. I learned a lot and would recommend this course to anyone interested in Close protection and Surveillance!

– Becky Cole

beckyhilluk24 [at] yahoo.co.uk

Excellent course, well structured and straight to the point. Highly recommend.

– Michael Foster

Jan 2018, Surveillance/Private Investigation/Close Protection
Great stuff, thoroughly enjoyable experience. Great team. A shame I have to go back to the real world!

The course was excellent - a wealth of knowledge was passed on by the instructors. They were friendly and helpful.

– Jon Hinson

jonathanhinson2017 [at] gmail [dot] com

Dec 2017, Surveillance/Private Investigation/Close Protection
I would fully recommend this course and Argus to anyone wishing to work as a CPO.

– David Mcfarlane

davie37 [at] mail.co.uk

The build up from start to finish was excellent. Really good instruction and help when required.

– Kaj Olausson

Dec 2017, Surveillance, Private Investigation, Close Protection
I really enjoyed the course, especially the surveillance phase. I felt like the knowledge of the instructors made it easier to understand all aspects of the course.

– Arron Jordon

arronjordan119 [at] gmail.com

March 2018 Close Protection/Surveillance/Private Investigation/First Aid

Brillian course, all instructors were great and had lots of experience. I found every stage beneficial and well ran. I will recommend this course to others.

– Glen Marshall

glenmarshall [at] rocketmail.com

Dec 2017, Surveillance, Private Investigation, Close Protection
The course was brilliant, learnt lots and already I can see that the post course support is very good!

– Jonathan Scholick

jonny.scholick [at] gmail.com

The course has been great, both instructors and modules have been challenging and fun as well as educating.

– Christopher Oltnas

christopher.oltnaes [at] gmail.com

A very good course with highly verified instructors.

– Marcus Holm

marcus-holm [at] live.com

I have learned so much, the instructors were on point and the course was at a good tempo. Highly recommended.